


Feel the Beat

by CeruleanHeart



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Daydreaming, Fantasizing, Lifeguard Billy, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Sailor steve, Scoops Ahoy, Season/Series 03, Some Humor, bisexual awakening, jazzercise, rating will go up to E for second chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 15:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19748443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeruleanHeart/pseuds/CeruleanHeart
Summary: Ever since the aerobics studio moved in across from Scoops Ahoy, Steve has been awfully distracted by one of the male instructors.One epiphany later Steve has to go down to Hawkins Public Pool to test out a theory on a certain asshole lifeguard.





	Feel the Beat

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU where none of the UD stuff happened and Steve and Robin became friends nevertheless. But the mall is still open and they're both still working at Scoops, Billy is still a lifeguard and summer is still fun!

“Oh no. Is it 2 o’clock, already?” Robin said next to Steve who suddenly realized he hadn’t moved for over a minute, hand still hovering above the stash of tasting spoons next to the cash register “Time for Jazzercise! Get that boogie body!”

He groaned as she started gyrating her pelvis next to him, imitating the warm-up moves of the instructor who had just started his class in the studio across from Scoops Ahoy. They had moved in about two weeks ago, taking the last vacant spot on their level and ever since then Steve had been _suffering._

He’d been suffering every single day, like being stuck in a dead-end job and wearing a sailor uniform wasn’t bad enough already.

“Now’s the time! Feel the beat! Looking good, ladies!!” Robin cackled and bumped her hip against Steve’s.  
  
“Come ooon!” Steve rubbed his face, tried to spread the heat of his blush evenly so it wouldn’t be so obvious, he couldn't believe she had caught him again “I wasn’t looking I was just generally distracted.”

“Oh sure, you’re always generally distracted when your crush shows up.”

“Shut up, he’s not my crush!! He’s just…” Steve struggled to find the right word but came up empty “...so fucking distracting! I mean look at him!”

They both took a second to marvel at the scene unfolding behind the glass front of the studio. A group of ladies, one wearing leggins tighter than the next, was gathered around the man Robin had dubbed Charles Atlas, whoever the fuck that was supposed to be. 

And like normally, as a healthy teenage boy, Steve knew he should be busy enjoying those tight spandex-clad buns all lined up in front of him. But every damn time he tried, he ended up zeroing in on the stupid jazzercise man. 

It was infuriating, but the guy was just impossible to ignore. He looked like he had just walked in from Venice Beach, bronzed to perfection, long, bleached hair framing his head and a toothpaste commercial smile plastered on his face. He was an absolute beefcake and for some reason, Steve was almost disturbingly fascinated with his pecs bulging behind a flimsy tank top that kept slipping over his oiled upper body and exposed a nipple every now and then.

2 o’clock was normally a slow time for Scoops, especially on a weekday and as usual, the shop was empty today too. But it was prime time for Jazzercise and if you combined all classes so far, Steve had spent more hours watching the instructor than what could be good for his mental health. By now he knew most of the moves by heart.

“He looks like a Chippendale.” Robin said dryly around a pink plastic spoon in her mouth. At some point, she had helped herself to a sample of double choc mint and Steve hadn’t even noticed “Didn’t think you’d be into that, but ok I guess. I like girls who sound like muppets and you have a thing for male strippers. Nobody’s perfect.”

“Please stop talking, oh my god!” Steve squeezed his eyes shut, trying to ward off the mental image of Jazzercise Man in a thong with dollar bills stuffed down the front “I don’t have a thing for male strippers!”

“Then why can’t you stop getting ‘generally distracted’.” Robin asked innocently and licked her spoon clean.

“Because... Because it’s like watching a terrible accident happening right in front of you and… and it’s awful and a total disaster but you can’t… you simply can’t look away!” the last words came out tortured because that’s exactly how Steve felt. Absolutely excruciated. 

“Naw.” Robin shook her head wisely “Admit it, Steve. You want to sign up for Jazzercise and ask for private lessons.”

“Robin, I don’t have a crush on the Jazzercise Man, how many times do I have to tell you?” Steve gestured vaguely outside and then at himself, not even sure what he was trying to express with that except maybe ‘do I look like a jazzercise kinda guy to you?’.

“Ok, maybe not a crush. But you think he’s hot right?! Because, and I’m just putting this out here, you’re still staring.” Robin grinned and poked his shoulder with the spoon before she tossed it in a bin and went for another one, strawberry swirl this time.

“He is objectively attractive, ok? That’s a fact.” Steve said, face stern, and watched as the instructor started a new set that included especially vigorous hip thrusting. He shivered with a mix of horror and awe.

“Mmmmh yeah, no. Sorry, not to me.” Robin crossed her arms and leaned against Steve, angling her head so they had the same line of view. “He looks like a hairless ape.”

“Listen, that’s… that’s just mean. He’s a very handsome guy.” Steve said, slightly offended on behalf of Jazzercize Man and his own taste, but then quickly added, “That doesn’t mean I want to bone him or whatever.”

“Okay, okay! Not a crush then.” Robin sighed and rolled her eyes “But maybe you just kind of have… you know. A type?”

“A type?” Steve managed to tear his eyes off of the instructor to turn his head and frown at Robin. “What do you mean?”

“Tall, blonde, well-built, blue-eyed. Wears tanks? Think about it there must be a reason why you just… can’t take your eyes off of him.”

The last part was uncalled for because Steve had just proven, like that very moment to be precise, that he totally could take his eyes off the guy. But he didn’t say anything, instead actually tried to picture it in his head.

Ok, so an attractive male? Not Jazzercise man, just someone _like_ him. Maybe a guy about Steve’s age and not that pumped up, a more regular type of physique but sculpted and strong nevertheless. Yeah, that sounded better and felt way less cringey than ogling some 35-year old bodybuilder on an anabolics diet. 

Steve imagined tanned skin stretching smoothly over muscles, hard and defined but less sinewy, body and face still softened by youth. He saw the roll of a shoulder, the flick of a head, a bright smile and tendons working between shoulder blades and the small of a back with a dynamic motion, a dash, maybe for a goal.

A vision flashed before Steve’s inner eye, clear and vivid, of dirty blonde curls, long dark lashes and eyes that were impossibly blue and sharp. He shuddered with the memory of a warm, sweaty body grinding against him and a sneer that rasped a hot breath of words into his ear. _Harrington, am I right?_

Steve shook his head violently, pulled himself out of this daydream turned flashback and firmly said, “No!”

“Steve.” Robin was speaking in that gentle voice, had that mild smile she used when she thought he was being especially dense “You’re red all over.”

“It’s because… I like girls. I like them a lot, as you know. So this is a super weird conversation.” Steve stammered, wringing his stupid little apron till his knuckles cracked.

It was unfair, fucking unbelievable that of all the guys that fit that description the first one who’d come to his mind was Billy fucking Hargrove.

Robin nodded again, there was something like sadness in her eyes but also understanding.

“Alright, Steve. Maybe you’re distracted because he’s annoying. I get it.”

“Yeah, that’s it. He’s so fucking obnoxious.” Steve sighed, relief washing over him, and let go of the apron to wipe his sweaty palms on it. “Thinks he’s the hottest thing in town.”

“He probably does, yeah.” Robin snorted.

“Totally.” he nodded to himself, remembering Billy’s entrance first day at school and all the guy’s posturing Steve had to endure during his last high school year, especially when he was “Always doing that tongue thing.”

“That what?”

Steve flinched, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud but Robin wouldn’t leave him alone until she got an answer, he knew her well enough by now.

“That tongue thing! He gets that stupid shit-eating grin whenever he sees me and then he just sticks it out, going ‘Blerlerlergh!!’” he explained, imitating Billy’s manic smile and tongue action as best as he could.

“Wait what?!” Robin almost choked on her sample, popping the spoon out of her mouth with a loud smacking sound, eyes wide “Jazzercise Man came in here and wagged his tongue at you like that?”

“What? No! Not Jazzercise Man.” Steve frowned at her, confused for a moment before he realized where he’d lost her. His mouth formed a silent little ‘oh’ at his own mistake and he felt his ears catching fire.

“Then who are you talking about?!” Robin cocked her head, eyed him suspiciously.

“I… Just some asshole from school. He’s that really pushy kid that used to get up my ass all the time. He was kind of obsessed with me, hell knows why. He said the weirdest shit, I swear.” Steve shrugged, played it off as another one of those high school anecdotes they liked to share sometimes and then, imitating that Californian drawl as best as he could. he added just to illustrate exactly how fucking weird Hargrove had been all the time “Am I dreaming or is that, you Harrington? Pretty boy like you got nothing to worry about. You used to be King and now you turned bitch.”

Across from him Robin just stared at him open-mouthed and blinked a few times but said not a single word. It was uncomfortable so Steve felt the need to keep on talking, he cleared his throat.

“So yeah, uhm. Stuff like that. He was so fucking annoying. I tried to ignore him but he wouldn’t leave me alone until we got in a huge fight.”

“Okaaaay…” Robin said slowly and there was a strange expression on her face, the kind you saw on people who had just heard the click of the trigger of a secret trap door “And you brought him up because…?”  
  
“I don’t know. Maybe because he’s kinda that type, you know? Like… uhm.” he nodded at the Jazzercise instructor who had now moved on to doing squats.

“Wait, wait, wait… You’re telling me there’s a guy walking around in Hawkins, who’s that type, _your type,_ who does a tongue thing when he sees you and teases you and calls you pretty boy?” she asked, breathless with disbelief.

“If you put it like that… I guess so?” Steve’s hands were in his apron again and he shrugged helplessly.

“Oh dear lord. Hold on a sec!” Robin huffed out a laugh and then disappeared in the break room, leaving Steve behind in the empty store to listen to her puttering around in the back.

Much to Steve’s surprise she re-emerged holding the whiteboard and a black marker. She gave Steve a very serious look and then the marker squeaked mercilessly as she slowly and sardonically put a fat, new tally under “YOU SUCK”.

“Hey.” Steve said weakly “I thought you stopped doing that when we became friends.”

“Well, you deserve that one, dingus.”

“What in the world for? Because some asshole called me pretty?”

“Steeeeve!” Robin groaned “Don’t you get it? That boy had a major crush on you. He tried to _flirt_ with you! He was pulling your pigtails because teenage guys are dumb as heck. But you ignored him, _even though_ you totally think he’s super hot and you still remember every word he ever said to you.”

“That’s bullshit!” Steve blurted, honestly scandalized at such a suggestion “Everyone knows Hargrove is a ladies man!”

“Billy?!” Robin was almost screaming now, pulling her hair “We’re talking about Billy Hargrove?! Oh my god! That’s worth another five!”

She was laughing hysterically jotting down the tallys until they turned into zig-zag lines.

“Five?! WHY?” 

“Steve, are you blind? Have you ever looked at him?! Billy is the gayest boy ever, I've never seen anybody compensate that hard!” Robin threw her arms in the air, still clutching the marker “He likes you. He _like_ likes you!”

"He’s just some jock that beat me up!” Steve was on the verge of screaming now too, threatening to slip into hysteria himself. 

Robin put the whiteboard with the offensive YOU SUCK score down, holding her ribs, wheezing. If anyone had been in the store they might’ve thought Steve and her were practising a stand-up routine.

“Yeah, I wanna beat you up too sometimes!” she said finally, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye “I wanna beat you up right now. You’re so dense, Harrington.”

“That’s crazy!” Steve shook his head again, mind racing it couldn’t possibly be… or could it? “That’s just… I don’t believe it.”

“Then don’t. Whatever. But believe _yourself,_ at least. You totally want a piece of that gorgeous Californian trash boy. You wanna do the boogie with him!” that smug expression was back on her face, the one she always got when she thought she had figured Steve out. The one she’d had since the first time she caught him staring at the Jazzercise instructor.

“I do not want to boogie with Billy Hargrove. Period!” Steve said firmly and crossed his arms.

“Uh huh.” Robin mirrored his stance with a wicked grin. “Hey Steve, Jazzercize Man just took off his shirt.”

Steve’s body reacted on its own, he had absolutely no control over his head as it snapped back and around to look at the studio front again.

Jazzercise Man was still wearing his shirt. 

Steve felt humiliated and betrayed and on top of that, he suddenly couldn’t stop picturing Billy in that tank top that had given him so much suffering during the last two weeks. 

“I want to dieeee.” he groaned “I’d rather have a crush on Jazzercise Man than Billy having one on me.”

“Come on Steve, don’t lie. He’s your number one pick, obviously. And this... It’s not the end of the world. You still get to pick up pretty girls if you want to, but isn’t it good to know you can get the hot guys too?” Robin reasoned “I mean… You’re dating game hasn’t been on top lately maybe it doesn’t hurt if you, uh… expand your options?” 

It wasn’t nice of Robin to say that, but it wasn’t untrue either. Steve hadn’t seen much action lately and he only partly blamed the uniform for that. If he was completely honest with himself his attempts to pick up girls had been half-hearted at best since the studio had moved in across from them.

Apart from that, it was much harder suddenly to suppress the memory of red lips and wicked smiles, heated glances and half-lidded eyes in the shower. Water beads running down Billy’s abs. Touches that always seemed an attack or accidental, but lasted way too long, were too intense for that. And then that one that was especially vivid, the only time Steve had reached out and touched him first, in the middle of their fight. Pressed two fingers to Billy’s chest, felt the warmth of his skin, the dampness of his sweat, saw the white fingerprints he left when it ended with him saying ‘ _Get out’_.

Heat blossomed in his stomach, his face.

“Billy hates my guts, you have no idea Robin.” he mumbled but already felt his conviction crumble.

“Well, that’s one theory.” Robin shrugged.

“A theory… huh?” Steve could hear the hesitation in his own voice, the curiosity.

“Yeah. A stupid theory too, if you ask me.”

Steve nodded, lost in thought for a few moments as he watched Jazzercise Man starting to jog on the spot and move his arms up and down, encouraging the ladies in his class to do the same.

He mulled it over in his head for a few more minutes, digesting the sheer amount of new information. Steve wasn’t sure about any of this, couldn’t even tell if Jazzercise Man was as attractive as he had thought or if he had been projecting all this time. 

No, he simply didn’t know. But the questions started to burn inside of him with such intensity, it consumed every other thought. Patience had never been one of Steve’s virtues. He had to know, he had to find out. Now.

“Robin…” Steve said, slowly taking off his apron and putting it on the counter “I’m taking my break now. You might have to cover for me for another hour but I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

And then without looking back or sparing the Jazzercise instructor another glance, he walked around the counter and towards the exit.

“Hey!” Robin shouted after him when she realized what Steve was up to but he didn’t hear what else she had to say because he was already jogging out of the shop and through the mall, going in the general direction of the public pool.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I couldn't resist picking up that part where Steve is staring open mouthed at the Jazzercise instructor! XD  
> Thank god, Steve has Robin as a friend now.
> 
> Next chapter will include some sexy times at the pool! 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! If you did, a comment or kudos always make my day. Find me on tumblr @highon85


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